2010 in Bellator MMA

2010 in Bellator MMA was the second installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships (Bellator FC)-produced series. It started on April 8, 2010, and ended on June 24, 2010. Tournaments were held in the featherweight, lightweight, welterweight and middleweight divisions. The winner of each tournament will get a shot at the current Bellator Champion in his respective weight class. Three of the four current Bellator Champions also fought during this season in "Super Fights". These non-tournament, non-title catch-weight fights were to help prepare the champions in defending their titles against the winners of this season's tournaments sometime in the third season.

Bellator 13
Bellator 13 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, April 8, 2010, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Background

The card featured two quarter-final bouts of the Featherweight and Lightweight tournaments Bellator is holding in its second season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Janne Tulirinta was originally set to fight Carey Vanier, however, Tulirinta was forced out of the bout because of visa issues. Joe Duarte was his replacement.

Results

Bellator 14
Bellator 14 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, April 15, 2010, at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

Background

The card featured the quarter-final bouts in three of the four tournaments Bellator is holding in its second season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Originally, Imada was set to fight Ferrid Kheder at Bellator 15 but an injury forced Kheder out of the bout. James Krause was tapped as Kheder's replacement and the bout was moved to this event. To make room, a featherweight tournament bout between Patricio Freire and William Romero was moved to Bellator 15.

A bout between Jonatas Novaes and Daniel Mason-Straus was canceled due to an undisclosed illness.

Results

Bellator 15
Bellator 15 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took take place on Thursday, April 22, 2010, in Uncasville, Connecticut. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

The card featured quarter-final bouts in the Welterweight and Featherweight tournaments Bellator is holding in its second season.

Dan Hornbuckle was originally set to fight Sean Pierson, but a back injury forced Pierson out of the bout. Tyler Stinson was his replacement.

Jim Wallhead was forced out of his bout with Jacob McClintock due to air travel not being available in England. Ryan Thomas was Wallhead's replacement.

Results

Bellator 16
Bellator 16 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, April 29, 2010, in Kansas City, Missouri. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

The card featured the quarter-final bouts of the Middleweight Tournament Bellator is holding in its second season.

Eric Schambari was originally set to fight Matt Major, but Major instead fought Alexander Shlemenko and Schambari fought Luke Zachrich.

Rudy Bears was first set to fight Zak Cummings, however due to undisclosed reasons, Cummings pulled out of the fight and was replaced by Brent Weedman.

Results

Bellator 17
Bellator 17 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 6, 2010, at the Citi Performing Arts Center: Wang Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Results

Bellator 18
Bellator 18 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 13, 2010, in Monroe, Louisiana. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

This event featured two semi-final match ups from Bellator's season two tournament as well as four additional preliminary card fights featuring local fighters.

Hector Lombard was scheduled to face former WEC Middleweight champion Paulo Filho in a non-title bout, but Filho pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Jay Silva. This marks the fourth bout Filho has pulled out of in two years.

Results

Bellator 19
Bellator 19 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 20, 2010, at Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie, Texas. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Results

Bellator 20
Bellator 20 was a mixed martial arts event by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, May 27, 2010, at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

The bout between Eddie Sanchez and Wayne Cole was reported to be for a spot in Bellator's season three Heavyweight tournament. However, Cole pulled out of the fight and was replaced by Marcus Suers.

Two of the match ups became catchweight bouts after Brian Melancon and Andrew Chappelle failed to make weight.

Results

Bellator 21
Bellator 21 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, June 10, 2010, at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

The card featured the final tournament fight in the Lightweight division. The winner was crowned the Bellator season 2 Lightweight winner and would face the current Bellator Lightweight Champion Eddie Alvarez sometime during season 3.

Results

Bellator 22
Bellator 22 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, June 17, 2010, at Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

The card featured the final tournament fight in the Welterweight division. The winner was crowned the Bellator season 2 Welterweight winner and would face the current Bellator Welterweight Champion Lyman Good sometime during season three.

Results

Bellator 23
Bellator 23 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, June 24, 2010, at Fourth Street Live! in Louisville, Kentucky. The event was distributed live in primetime by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

The card featured the final tournament fight in the Featherweight and Middleweight divisions. The winners were crowned the Bellator Season 2 Featherweight and Middleweight winners and would face the current Bellator Featherweight and Middleweight Champions, Joe Soto and Hector Lombard, respectively, sometime during season 3.

Luke Zachrich was originally set to compete in a middleweight bout against Mike Fleniken. However, Zachrich was forced to pull out of the fight for an undisclosed reason. He was replaced by UFC veteran, Johnny Rees. However, Rees was then replaced by Stoney Hale.

Kurt Kinser agreed to catchweight contest after Dave Overfield weighed-in well-over the 155-pound lightweight limit.

Results

Bellator 24
Bellator 24 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, August 12, 2010, at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The card began Bellator Season Three and featured the first round of the Bellator 115-pound women's tournament and an opening round fight in the Heavyweight tournament.

Background

Two bouts, Nico Parella vs. Efrain Ruiz and Frank Carrillo vs. Moyses Gabin, were scratched from the untelevised portion of this card. Parella pulled his groin and Gabin suffered a broken foot, which forced both off the card.

Results

Bellator 25
Bellator 25 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. This event took place on August 19, 2010, at the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. In Japan, the event was distributed with a short delay by Cavea.

Background

A lightweight bout featuring Mark Miller and Josh Shockley was set to happen at this event. But the week before the event, the bout was scratched when Miller suffered a rib injury in training.

Results

Bellator 26
Bellator 26 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, August 26, 2010, at Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

Rory Markham was scheduled to fight Steve Carl, however Markham was not medically cleared. Tyler Stinson took his place.

Results

Bellator 27
Bellator 27 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, September 2, 2010, at Majestic Theatre in San Antonio, Texas. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Results

Bellator 28
Bellator 28 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, September 9, 2010, at Mahalia Jackson Theater in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates. This was the first Bellator card with no Tournament Bouts.

Background

Chas Skelly was expected to fight Georgi Karakhanyan in a fourth season featherweight tournament qualifier bout. However, Skelly injured himself during training and was forced to pull out of the bout. Skelly's replacement was to be UFC veteran, Alvin Robinson. However, Robinson was also forced to pull out of the bout due to injury. Robinson was replaced by WEC veteran Anthony Leone.

Toney Canales and J.C. Pennington were set to fight, but for unknown reasons, the fight was pulled at the last minute.

The card took place in the same city and during the same night and time as the 2010 NFL season opener, a rematch of the NFC Championship game between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings, a decision in MMA to counter-program a marquee NFL event which may have had adverse effect on local ticket sales.

Results

Bellator 29
Bellator 29 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, September 16, 2010, at The Rave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

Bellator 29 was the first sanctioned MMA event in Wisconsin.

Chico Camus was set to compete against Jameel Massouh in a catchweight bout. However, Camus injured his sternum in a car accident and was forced to withdraw from the bout. Kyle Dietz was set to be Camus' replacement; however, an illness forced Ulysses Gomez out of his bout in the bantamweight tournament and Bryan Goldsby, who was set to fight Nik Mamalis, stepped in for Gomez and returned to the tournament. Dietz was dropped from the card, and Mamalis stepped in to fight Massoush.

Justin Lemke was originally set to fight David Oliva, but Oliva was forced out of the bout due to weight issues. Jason Guida stepped in for Oliva as his replacement.

The Massouh/Mamalis bout was originally contracted as a 140 lb catchweight fight. Massouh initially weighed in two pounds over the limit, but successfully made weight two hours after the original weigh-in on a subsequent attempt. Jason Guida weighed in five pounds over the 210 lb catchweight limit in his bout against Justin Lemke.

Results

Bellator 30
Bellator 30 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, September 23, 2010, at Fourth Street Live! in Louisville, Kentucky. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background Bryan Goldsby replaced Ulysses Gomez in the bantamweight tournament after Gomez was forced to withdraw due to staph infection.

Results

Bellator 31
Bellator 31 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, September 30, 2010, at L'Auberge du Lac Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The card featured tournament fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

A previously announced fight between Ricco Rodriguez and Dave Herman, was scrapped from this card due to Rodriguez suffering a knee injury. Michal Kita served as Rodriguez's replacement.

Results

Bellator 32
Bellator 32 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, October 14, 2010, at Kansas City Power & Light District in Kansas City, Missouri. The card featured the tournament finals fights in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

This was the fourth Bellator event to be held at the Kansas City Power & Light District, all in 2010. Bellator XVI, Bellator XXII and Bellator XXVI have also been held at this venue.

The event hosted bouts to crown the first Bellator Heavyweight and Bantamweight Champions.

Results

Bellator 33
Bellator 33 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, October 21, 2010, at Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The card featured a tournament final fight in Bellator's third season. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Background

The main event was supposed to feature Eddie Alvarez defending his lightweight title against season two's lightweight tournament winner, Pat Curran. Curran injured himself during training so Alvarez instead fought Roger Huerta in a non-title fight.

Wilson Reis vs. Deividas Taurosevičius was set to air as a part of the night's main card; however, the fight was not aired for unknown reasons.

Results

Bellator 34
Bellator 34 was a mixed martial arts event held by Bellator Fighting Championships. The event took place on Thursday, October 28, 2010, at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida. The card featured the final round of the Bellator 115-pound women's tournament in Bellator's third season, as well as Hector Lombard defending his middleweight title. The event was distributed live in prime time by FOX Sports Net and its regional sports network affiliates.

Results